Dovizioso admits Friday speed "not enough" against Marquez

Dovizioso, who must win in Sunday's race to have a shot at the title, was third overall after the two Friday practice sessions, behind Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

However, Dovizioso admitted Honda duo Marquez and Pedrosa had the best race pace and are the favourites at the moment.

"Happy about the final result, the position of today, but I know what we did today is good but it is not enough," said Dovizioso.

"For sure Dani and Marc have a better pace than everybody else, with used tyres. This is what we expected so I am no surprised about that. This is the reality at the moment.

"I am not smooth enough when I make my pace so we have to focus on that and we know that it will be very important to make 30 laps in a constant way."

Asked where needs to find improvements, the Italian said: "The middle of the corner [I am] not so fast.

"Especially the line, the position I am on the exit I am not happy, I can't pick up the bike and exit in a smooth way. I can't do what I want and that is very important but it is not easy to fix."

Marquez crash "not so important"

Dovizioso's rival Marquez suffered a crash in the afternoon session, but the Italian does not think it could affect the outcome of the weekend.

"Marc crashed a lot of times in his career especially this year," said Dovizioso. "I don't think this is something so important about this weekend.

"For sure it is not the best [for him] but I don't know, when he crashes there is always a reason.

"Sometimes it is important, sometimes not. You know what you did so you know very well if it is a problem or not. But the pace he showed during today is quite fast."

Additional reporting by Lena Buffa